Do You Read Blog Archives?

By Carolyn Elefant on January 27, 2008

Having blogged for over five years now, I’ve amassed a considerable body of archives, both here and here (pre 11/2004). But does anyone read archives? With so much currently available information, do blog readers ever re-visit the past?

I don’t want my older posts to fall into obscurity, so please let me know (1) whether you read archives and (2) in what situations you tend to read them. Also, let me know how you use blog archives – do you use the search tools at a blog to locate past posts of interest or sit down and read through past posts by topic or date? Please post your results in the comment section below — and I’ll try to do a follow up on this issue. And if you’ve already written about this topic, send me the link!

8 Responses to Do You Read Blog Archives?

I read archives quite frequently. Usually, I come across archived posts using the search feature, although some bloggers use additional topical menus to find their posts.
While “newsy” posts might be out of date and of little interest, most how-to type posts stay relevant for years.

I think that reliance on archives is becoming increasingly correlated with the time at which one became a regular reader/feed subscriber of a given blog. There are a lot of tools available now that permit saving links or entries in some organized manner (I have used OneNote and Zotero (a Firefox add-in) for that purpose). Archives may retain some usefulness, however, for new users of a given feed.
I must say, however, that it’s almost always the case (and I believe it has been so for MyShingle in each of its rebuilds) that the only archived posts I have looked at were links from a current post. Is it the case that the archive is of more use to the blogger than to most readers?

Like Garrett, I come across archived posts when I’m googling something. If it lands me on a blog and I like what I see — i.e., the information seems trustworthy (linked to sound sources) and the analysis pertinent, sophisticated or witty (depending on why I’m searching) — then I will search the blog with the blog’s search functions. Also like Garrett, I believe “how to” posts are likely good for years. Most of the posts on my blog that are always in the top ten or twenty are those “how to’s” — how to negotiate a retail purchase; how to start a mediation practice; how to authenticate a document, etc.
Always a pleasure to drop by your blog Carolyn!
Best, Vickie

I often search archived posts for “how-to” items and discussions of products and service providers. And I occasionally look for posts by topic, but find searching more useful.

I donâ€™t search the archives of individual bloggers, but do find blog archives extremely useful in the course of any search engine search. In fact my own blog postings (Oregon Legal Research) are drafted more on the assumption that their current value is quite limited but their future value may be priceless, e.g. when I blog about subject-specific articles in newsletters that arenâ€™t indexed anywhere or link to state specific guides researchers might not otherwise find.
I also write blog posts for my stateâ€™s non-law librarians who have asked about legal research topics. Those, in fact, are the posts that get the greatest number of hits, months, years even after the first post, which is why I pay less attention to current stats on Hits and Views and more attention to Content Use over time. For example, my â€

I’ve been struggling with the same question. Have you checked your stats? While I don’t get as much traffic through my archives as my blog’s front page, people certainly do read archived articles, especially as accessed through the blog’s search function.

I just spent about an hour reading many of your old posts (like this one) because I’m new to this site. I didn’t comment on any of the old posts but found them all very useful. I’m a law professor that also does some work on the side. I want to develop my practice some more and I found many of these posts so helpful. Thank you!

Yes, I read blog archives! Particularly yours. In fact, I sometimes have a dozen windows within windows open as I peel in from a 2009 MS post to a 2007, then to a still older one and so on. I sometimes feel a small surge of joy when I am reading one of your older posts and I look at the list of “relateds” and realize I am at the end of my interest trail and can start backing out. My Shingle (along with Solosez archives) are, at this stage of my solo practice, a huge time investment. Mostly I feel grateful about that, but sometimes overwhelmed. Oh, one other thing: I not only read archive posts, I forward them. I’m like the Neilsen viewer with a family of five in front of the TV set.
Christine McCall
LicenseAdvocates.com

8 Responses to Do You Read Blog Archives?

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